Warm Weather On The Menu For Thanksgiving Festivities

They`ll be freezing again in the northern hinterlands this Thanksgiving. But in South Florida, the weather will be just perfect for getting a turkey day tan.

``The bottom line through Thanksgiving is it`s going to be warm,`` said forecaster Emmett Ricks, of the National Weather Service in Coral Gables.

The sun will be shining, temperatures will be in the mid-80s and there is only an ever-so-slight 20 percent chance of showers for Thursday, Ricks said.

Ditto for today and probably for Friday, too.

By Saturday, there is a possibility of slightly cooler temperatures, though forecasters hesitate to call it that.

``I don`t want to use the word `cool`,`` Ricks said. ``It`ll go down a couple degrees, out of the mid-80s to low-80s. Nowhere in the world is 80 degrees cool.``

Ah, those folks north of the Florida line should be so lucky.

If you were eating Thanksgiving dinner in, say, Buffalo, you`d be looking at near freezing temperatures. It was 47 in that city-by-the-lake on Tuesday. That was the high, of course. The low was 33, and it`s not about to get any warmer.

Even in the sultry city of Atlanta, highs never reached 70 on Tuesday. Temperatures there ranged from 60 in the morning to 68 by mid-day. Great football weather, but you`d probably want to forget about the outdoor Thanksgiving Day meal.

So why is South Florida so hot?

Well, first of all, it`s not all that unusual, forecasters said. In 1985, for instance, it was 81 in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 25, compared to 83 this year. Lows were 74 and 75 degrees, respectively.

``There`s really very little difference between last year and this year,`` weather specialist Bob Ebaugh said.

Hollywood`s high was 85 on Tuesday; the low was 75. And West Palm Beach had identical temperatures to Fort Lauderdale, 83 and 75 degrees.

Record highs for Nov. 27, Thanksgiving Day, are 84 in Hollywood and 88 in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Those are within reach this year.

Record lows for that date are 35 in Fort Lauderdale (1949), 48 in Hollywood (1977) and 37 in West Palm Beach (1970). Forecaster Ricks said those records are not in danger of being broken anytime soon.

``Usually by this time we have had a couple shots of cool weather. But this year we haven`t, so the ground and water is still hot,`` Ricks said.

He said each cold front that sweeps into the area gradually cools the ground and water until they offer less and less resistance to cold weather, and temperatures will drop significantly.

``But we haven`t had that yet, so it`s going to take a real good shot of cold air before we`re affected with big changes in temperatures,`` he said.

So, instead of cursing the heat when you break into a sweat while carving the turkey on Thursday, just think: you could be in Buffalo.

HIGHS AND LOWS

City High Low

Hollywood 85 75

Fort Lauderdale 83 75

West Palm Beach 83 75

Miami Beach 82 78

Atlanta 68 60

New York 52 39

Washington 50 33

Boston 50 38

Buffalo 47 33

Chicago 50 30

Minneapolis 48 30

Denver 47 27

Chart gives overnight low and daytime high for the 24-hour period ending 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.